A trust is a private arrangement that holds your property — during your life and after. Unlike a will, it doesn’t go through probate court, doesn’t become a public record, and can keep working for years after you’re gone.
That’s the pitch you’ll hear everywhere. Here’s the part most firms leave out: a lot of families don’t need one. If your estate is a house and a bank account and the plan is to leave everything to your kids, a will and a Lady Bird deed will usually get you there for a fraction of the cost.
Trusts earn their keep when there’s real complexity. My job is to tell you honestly which situation you’re in.
There are situations where a trust isn’t a luxury — it’s the only tool that does the job. You own property in more than one state and want to avoid multiple probates. You have a child with special needs who’d lose benefits if they inherited outright. Your beneficiaries are minors, or young adults you’d rather not hand a lump sum at twenty-two. You’re in a second marriage and want to provide for your spouse while making certain your children from the first marriage aren’t disinherited.
You want privacy, because a will becomes a public record and a trust doesn’t. Or you own a vacation rental or a family business that needs to keep operating without a court proceeding pausing everything for months.
If any of that describes you, we should talk about a trust.
The single most common failure I see with trusts is that they were never funded. Someone paid good money for a beautiful document, put it in a drawer, and never actually transferred anything into it. When they died, everything went through probate anyway — and the family paid twice.
Funding is the part that matters, and it’s the part I handle rather than leaving you with a checklist. That means preparing deeds for your Florida property, giving you written instructions for each account, and confirming it’s actually done before we call the work finished.
Best for: one home, adult children, straightforward wishes.
Best for: complexity — multiple properties, minors, blended families.
Best for: asset protection and long-term care planning.
That’s exactly what the free consultation is for. Bring what you’ve got and we’ll figure out in half an hour whether a trust makes sense for your family — or whether something simpler will do.
A legal arrangement where you transfer property to a trust, which is managed by a trustee for your beneficiaries. With a revocable living trust, you're usually the trustee and the beneficiary during your own lifetime — nothing about your daily life changes.
A will directs where property goes after death and runs through probate court, becoming a public record. A trust can hold and manage property during your life and after, avoids probate for anything properly transferred into it, and stays private.
Not necessarily. Many families are well served by a will alone, or a will plus a Lady Bird deed. A trust adds value when there's complexity — multiple properties, minor beneficiaries, a blended family, or a desire for privacy.
A revocable trust can be changed or cancelled by you at any time, and you keep full control. An irrevocable trust generally can't be changed once created, and you give up direct control — which is precisely what allows it to protect assets from creditors or Medicaid spend-down.
Completely. You serve as your own trustee, you can buy and sell freely, and you can amend or revoke the trust whenever you like. Practically speaking, nothing changes except the name on the title.
Transferring your assets into it — deeding real estate, retitling bank and brokerage accounts, updating beneficiary designations. An unfunded trust does nothing at all. This is where most trusts fail, and it's the part I handle rather than leaving to you.
A backup will that directs anything you didn't get into the trust to pour into it at your death. Every trust plan should include one. It doesn't avoid probate for those assets, but it makes sure they end up in the right place.
During your life, usually you. After that, a successor trustee takes over — an adult child, a trusted friend, or a professional trustee if the situation is complicated or the family isn't in agreement. We'll talk through who's actually suited to it.
Your successor trustee takes over and distributes the assets according to your instructions. No court, no public filing, no waiting on a judge. For a straightforward trust, this can be finished in weeks rather than the months probate takes.
Flat fee, quoted at your consultation before any work begins. A trust costs meaningfully more than a will, which is exactly why I'll tell you if you don't need one.
For most families, no. Federal estate tax only applies well above what typical Franklin County estates are worth, and Florida has no state estate or income tax. Trusts are used here for probate avoidance, privacy, and control — not tax savings. Anyone selling you a trust primarily on tax grounds is overselling.
Not if it's drafted correctly. Florida allows homestead property to be held in a revocable trust while preserving the exemption and the Save Our Homes cap, but the trust language has to be right. Generic online trusts frequently get this wrong.
A revocable trust does not — because you still control the assets, they're still reachable. An irrevocable trust can, but only if properly structured and established well before any claim arises.
This is one of the strongest cases for one. Without a trust, your family may face probate in each state where you own real estate. A properly funded trust handles all of it in a single administration.
A trust can hold rental property and keep it operating without interruption if you die or become incapacitated — no frozen accounts, no cancelled bookings, no court order needed to pay the property manager. Worth discussing if the rental income matters to your family.
Often yes. A trust can provide for your current spouse during their lifetime while guaranteeing that what's left goes to your children from a prior marriage. A will alone can't reliably do that, and Florida's elective share complicates it further.
A special needs trust lets you provide for them without disqualifying them from Medicaid or SSI. Leaving money to them outright — or even in an ordinary trust — can cost them benefits worth far more than the inheritance. This is one situation where a trust isn't optional.
You can't put property into a trust if title isn't clear. That happens frequently here — a parent or grandparent died years ago and the deed was never sorted out. We fix the title first, then fund the trust.
Every trust needs supporting documents, and some families are better served by the simpler route.
Wills — the pour-over will that backs up your trust
Lady Bird Deeds — the simpler alternative for a single homestead
Powers of Attorney — who manages your affairs if you can’t
Free consultation, no obligation. I’d rather you understand the tradeoffs than sign something you don’t need.
